Tag: brick

One of my favorite feelings is the feeling I get when I finish a project. Since moving in to Shawnee Street, Nick and I have completed a few, but there are 3 in particular I thought I would share. Our home was built in 1955, and has a very unique mid-century modern, split-level design… so I naturally began to run with that theme when decorating. When we bought our new house, I knew that the large amount of exposed brick was something I would want to “remedy” as quickly as possible. Although brick can be a very classic look, I felt that it was a bit outdated for our taste, and I had a strong desire to soften the color, as well as bring out the natural texture. So, the perfect solution for us was to “white-wash” the walls and fireplaces!

Before moving in, we had several rooms professionally painted, and we had the hardwoods re-finished as well. The previous home owners had already painted a few of the brick walls within the house. They are completely covered in a white, semi-gloss finish, and I like the way they look. However, I did not want to mimic that exact look on the rest of the brick in the house, so I went with a few different options. In the kitchen and living room, I used a very special type of paint called “milk paint” which is just a powder that you mix with water. It is designed to let the brick “breathe” and preserve the integrity of the clay. It took me about 5 hours to paint this mixture on both fireplaces, and I am pretty obsessed with the final product. Eventually, we will add a floating mantel to the fireplace in the kitchen. I’m thinking a big, thick piece of re-claimed wood will do the trick! Here are the before and afters:

Downstairs, there were two very large brick walls that gave the room a “dungeon” feel to me. I HATED them. Luckily, Nick has patience with me when I get the “itch” to fix something, and he let me complete this project over the weekend, and even hung the curtains for me (which required drilling into brick… not easy). Initially, I thought I would paint these walls a solid white, but once I began the priming process, I actually really enjoyed the basic washed look on them as well. So, it turns out, they just have 1 coat of water-based white primer on them. Here is the before and after:

Overall, these projects were not too difficult to complete, and I am happy to answer any questions about how we did them! I am definitely feeling pretty accomplished right now 🙂